TY - THES

T1 - Application of Managed Pressure Drilling in High Pressure High Temperature exploration wells

AU - Gatiatullin, Fanil

N1 - no embargo

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Many of oil and gas fields around the world are complex to drill effectively by conventional methods due to narrow drilling mud weight windows, enhanced risks, increased environmental and safety requirements. These issues are even more essential in High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) wells, especially when drilling exploration wells presenting a high level of uncertainty. Marginal wells can become more feasible by increasing efficiency and improving safety by applying Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) technology. However, this technology is not to be used in every case, as it has higher cost and requires additional training, equipment that is more complex. The thesis focuses on the feasibility assessment of MPD application for HPHT exploration wells through analysis of two actual onshore wells drilled in 2018 by an Oil and Gas Operating Company in South East Europe. Problems occurred with the MPD system are analyzed, additional time required for MPD operations is calculated, advantages and disadvantages of the technology are discussed and the efficiency of the MPD application in these two wells is estimated. The MPD technology has not been fully utilized in the first HPHT exploration well as it was unable to prevent pressure-related problems in one of the sections and hasn’t been used in reservoir section. In the second well, the technology helped to drill two sections in high pressure reservoir formations, but there were still significant pressure-related problems occurred. It was concluded that the usefulness of the technology for these particular wells has not yet been fully proven.

AB - Many of oil and gas fields around the world are complex to drill effectively by conventional methods due to narrow drilling mud weight windows, enhanced risks, increased environmental and safety requirements. These issues are even more essential in High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) wells, especially when drilling exploration wells presenting a high level of uncertainty. Marginal wells can become more feasible by increasing efficiency and improving safety by applying Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) technology. However, this technology is not to be used in every case, as it has higher cost and requires additional training, equipment that is more complex. The thesis focuses on the feasibility assessment of MPD application for HPHT exploration wells through analysis of two actual onshore wells drilled in 2018 by an Oil and Gas Operating Company in South East Europe. Problems occurred with the MPD system are analyzed, additional time required for MPD operations is calculated, advantages and disadvantages of the technology are discussed and the efficiency of the MPD application in these two wells is estimated. The MPD technology has not been fully utilized in the first HPHT exploration well as it was unable to prevent pressure-related problems in one of the sections and hasn’t been used in reservoir section. In the second well, the technology helped to drill two sections in high pressure reservoir formations, but there were still significant pressure-related problems occurred. It was concluded that the usefulness of the technology for these particular wells has not yet been fully proven.

KW - Managed Pressure Drilling

KW - MPD

KW - High Pressure High Temperature

KW - HPHT

KW - exploration drilling

KW - MPD

KW - Managed Pressure Drilling

KW - Hoch Druck Hoch Tempertatur

KW - HPHT

M3 - Master's Thesis

ER -